Maryland Terminating Exclusive Buyer's Contract

[Russell Gronsky]

Hi BP,

Here is the quick back story for context:

I'm looking to buy a house in Baltimore. I've been working with an agent for a few months and she recently tells me about a wholesaler who has a deal for me to look at. We tour it, I like the place. She tells me the wholesaler wants $70k for it. The place needs quite a lot of work and based on ARV, I felt $60k would be more appropriate and tell her to talk to the wholesaler. We do some back and forth and eventually, my agent gets me to agree to $70k plus paying the closing costs (another $1,000 or so). Then, after I agree to all of this, she discloses to me that the wholesaler is her husband.

I feel like this information should have been disclosed to me up front as this looks to me like a conflict of interest and I lost my trust in this agent. I'd like to terminate my exclusive buyer's representation and agency representation ahead of the date in the agreement I originally signed.

I don't necessarily want to get the agent in trouble, I just want to be released from all agreements with her and her brokerage (she is not the broker, just an agent working for a broker). Is there a form I need to provide to my agent and/or her broker to do this? Can I just write up a word document requesting early termination from both agreements and leave space for agent signature, broker signature and my own signature? Is there a third, better option for me to do to terminate these agreements in the state of Maryland?

Thanks all.

[Tom Gimer]

Read your agency agreement. It spells out exactly why and how you can terminate the relationship. Under the circumstances I doubt there would be any pushback from agent or broker on a request to sever the relationship early.